• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About the author and her website
  • References
  • Archives
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Contact Page

Defrosting Cold Cases

Research website by Alice de Sturler

  • My Research Method
  • How to search for cases
  • Cold Case Database
  • Case of the Month: What we lost
  • Book Reviews
You are here: Home / Forensics / Hagy, presenting no defense, guilty of 1984 slaying

Hagy, presenting no defense, guilty of 1984 slaying

March 24, 2010 By Alice

William Ray Hagy Jr. on Tuesday denied killing a Roanoke woman in 1984, speaking not from the witness stand in his murder trial but in a 2-year-old recorded interview played by prosecutors. “I have a feeling you’re going to charge me with this,” Hagy said in the conversation with the Roanoke police detective who reopened the investigation of Cynthia Denise McCray’s death. “I did not do it.”

That his claim of innocence was brought into evidence by the prosecution was another of the unusual twists in the long-running investigation, expected to climax with a verdict today from Roanoke Circuit Court Judge William Broadhurst. The judge will decide the case without a jury.

In the two days of prosecution testimony, two theories of Hagy’s guilt emerged. One is that Hagy strangled McCray, who worked as a prostitute, after having sex with her beneath the Interstate 581 overpass near Campbell Avenue. Former state assistant medical examiner William Massello testified that McCray died of asphyxiation, and that dirt on her hands showed she likely died outdoors. Former state crime lab scientist Elizabeth Smith testified that the only DNA material found on McCray’s underwear or on vaginal swabs matched either Hagy or McCray.

A second account of McCray’s death came from Roy Alonzo Dickinson on Monday. Dickinson, an executive at a Salem-based ATM company before pleading guilty to federal fraud charges, was jailed with Hagy last year. Hagy said he had been taking speed and became enraged when McCray said she wanted to quit trading sex for marijuana, according to Dickinson. Hagy said he strangled McCray in his car, then had sex with the corpse and dumped it under the interstate. Dickinson said Hagy drew him a map showing where some of the events happened. He turned the map over to authorities. Dickinson also admitted falsifying documents in unrelated cases.

Hagy’s attorney, Gary Lumsden, seemed to take aim at Dickinson’s credibility as he cross-examined Detective Manning. Under questioning, the detective confirmed the only sample of Hagy’s handwriting submitted to an expert was a letter that Dickinson provided. Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Sheri Jones quickly entered into evidence another letter from Hagy, one penned before he met Dickinson.

Hagy quietly watched his trial from the defense table, his only statement coming from the recording of his 2008 interview with Manning in Red Onion State Prison. The interview came several months before Hagy was charged in the slaying.

Defense attorney Gary Lumsden said the DNA tests show only that Hagy had sex with McCray — not that he committed any crime against her. “Given her lifestyle, it could have been there hours before, it could have been there days before,” Lumsden said in his closing argument today. The only evidence that Hagy killed McCray came from star prosecution witness Dickinson, “a smart, well-spoken manipulator and a pathological liar,” said Lumsden. Dickinson could have drawn the map himself, Lumsden said. Dickinson, who testified on Monday, said he gets nothing in return for cooperating with the prosecution.

Roanoke Circuit Court Judge William Broadhurst, who decided the case in one hour, 20 minutes without a jury, said the verdict hinged on the testimony of the prosecution’s star witness, Dickinson, a jailhouse informant who said Hagy confessed. Hagy, 49, faces life imprisonment when he is sentenced June 22.

I am worried about cases that are decided by witnesses of a certain repute. I wish we had more insight  and information about everything the prosecution presented. Read more here and here.

Thank you for sharing!

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Forensics, Solved Tagged With: Crime Scene, DNA, Expert Testimony, Forensics, Victim, Virginia

Primary Sidebar

Dina Fort

Author Notes

On this website, I write about old, unsolved cases. Most are from the pre-DNA era and are in need of renewed media attention. I only do research and leave the active investigation of these cases to the professionals.

My posts are about homicides, missing and unidentified people, wrongful convictions, and forensics as related to these cases.

On book reviews: I only review select works of true crime, crime fiction, and historical fiction/mysteries. The stories have to fit my website's theme and research. It remains my prerogative to not review a book.

My database has over 300 cases listed by the victim’s last name. You will find a brief description there as well. The database will always be free to the public to use. You cannot buy ad space on my website, ever.

All writing suggestions that come in by email are added to my to-do list in the order in which they were received. Please be patient. My to-do list is very long but no case gets dropped and I will get back in touch.

Defrosting Cold Cases is NOT an organization. It is my brainchild.

If you have any questions about my website please check the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page, the about page, and the tabs in both menu bars. If you still cannot find the answer there, please contact me.

Thank you,

Alice de Sturler

Copyright

If you use my work, please add a link back. Let your readers know where you found your information. I do the same for you. Thank you!

Protected by Copyscape

Categories

Top Posts & Pages

  • Cold Case Database
  • How to search for cases
  • Gina Renee Hall partial remains found
  • Eric Haider Update
  • Arrest in 1993 Kimberly Dunkin Case

Subscribe to DCC by email

Enter your email address to get new posts notifications in your inbox

RSS Defrosting Cold Cases

  • What we lost
  • The Ethics of Forensic Genealogy part 2
  • Once Two Sister by Sarah Warburton
  • Toronto John Doe 1989
  • Paul Bernard Quinters (1967 – 1993)

William Thomas Zeigler

Category: ALL POSTS

On March 31, 2016, an evidentiary hearing was held to request touch DNA testing. On July 18, 2016, Judge Whitehead denied that request.

On November 23, 2016, an appeal was filed with the Florida Supreme Court. On April 21, 2017, the Florida Supreme Court denied the request for touch DNA analysis.

On May 8, 2017 a motion for a rehearing with the US Supreme Court was filed. It was denied November 13, 2017.

In the summer of 2019, the appeal for DNA testing to the Florida Conviction Integrity Unit was denied.

Richard Lapointe

Category: ALL POSTS

In March 2015, the Connecticut State Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Richard lapointe. On Oct 2, 2015, International Wrongful Conviction Day, Richard was set free. The judge ruled that he cannot be retried for the 1987 rape-murder of Mrs. Bernice Martin. Richard Lapointe died on Aug 4, 2020 of Covid19 complications.

In 1987, someone killed Bernice Martin. I hope that she will not become a forgotten file.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Copyright: Please add a link back if you use my work. Let your readers know where you found your information. I do the same for you. If you need help with this, just contact me. Thank you, Alice de Sturler

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright © 2009–2021 - Defrosting Cold Cases - All rights reserved · Hosting & WordPress: 3J WordPress Write Data

wordpress counter

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.